If you are like many of us, your decorating budget is a shiny penny and just your creativity. Here are some tips to help you turn your house into your own getaway.
1. Have a plan! Think about your daily lifestyle, do you enteretain often, do you have young children, etc. This can impact your decision on your furniture choices, layout, and even color.
2. Paint can Maximize your Budget. There is nothing that can be more drastic to a room for your dollar. A gallon of paint to a room can completely change your room and make all the difference. There are so many choices, textures, and designs.
3. Throw pillows and slipcovers to the rescue. If new furniture is not in your budget, work with what you have. Throw pillows can change the look of a chair or couch, and if the piece needs a face lift, a slipcover can do the trick.
4. Accessories. Candles, flower arrangements, and artwork can add to the personality of a room. You can find some cheap but great finds on the internet, flea markets, or even yard sales.
5. Let your Light so Shine. Lamps, overhead lighting, and natural light can make a small room open up. It can set the tone, and and increase the value of the home ten fold.
6. Window treatments. Its important these are done right because they can last a lifetime. This can stretch your dollar to new limits.
7. Flooring and throw rugs. If you cant afford new flooring throw down a rug. Inexpensive and easy to move, this can make all the difference.
I hopes this help when you decide to makeover your home. These are inexpensive ways to change the look of a room on a budget
Filed under Carolina Real Estate, Home Repairs, Sell Your Home by 
In today’s tight housing market, every little bit helps get your home sold. And I do mean EVERY little bit.
When you’re selling your home, you need to take your own emotional attachments out of the picture and view things from the perspective of your prospective buyers.
Love that deep red color on the walls of your bedroom? Great, but the potential buyers walking through your house might despise the color red because they went to UNC and can’t stand NC State.
You think your collection of Pez dispensers makes a wonderful display in your living room. Unfortunately, most people viewing your house will think it makes the room look smaller than what it probably is and as a result, will walk away with a negative impression of your home.
Ultimately, if you want your home to sell fast and for top dollar, you MUST do everything possible to help your prospective buyers picture themselves in your house, not you.
Here’s a fantastic article that offers several great pieces of advice on how to prep your home for maximum impact when showing it to potential buyers:
Dress to impress: Local staging company helps home sellers put their best foot forward
Here’s a bit of good news that should lift the spirits of anyone down in the duldroms about the tough real estate market we’re currently in.
Freightliner coming to York County
340 jobs moving to York County, newspaper says
CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK
ckirkpatrick@charlotteobserver.com
Freightliner LLC, the nation’s largest truck manufacturer, plans to move about 340 sales and marketing jobs to York County and develop a 300-acre campus that some have speculated could become the new headquarters, the Oregonian newspaper in Portland reported today.
The Portland, Ore., company has several manufacturing operations in North Carolina and earlier confirmed it was considering transferring some white collar jobs to be closer to those facilities.
A specific site has not been named.
The York County Council discussed a package of transportation-related tax incentives in a closed session today for an unnamed corporation, the Rock Hill Herald reported. It plans a vote in open session on Monday.
The Oregonian reported that elected officials in Portland had been told by Freightliner’s chief executive that the company was developing the campus. The company said it was not moving its headquarters, the paper reported.
So, what this means for us is a potential influx of people looking to buy real estate in the Fort Mill SC, Rock Hill SC, and Tega Cay SC areas. Granted, it’s not going to be a HUGE influx, but will certainly help keep real estate in this area alive and well!
Sharon’s Top 10 reason’s why it’s a great time to buy real estate
1. Choices, Choices, Choices. No matter what your price range is, this is a time where there are plenty of houses to choose from. Only a few years ago, the buyer was forced to make compromises in a very selective market, not always finding the home of their dreams. With the home inventory growing, this is the buyer’s time to buy and be selective.
2. Love, Not War. When you find the house you love, the last thing you want to happen is a bidding war. The buyer has more negotiating power when they are the only bidder, and time, money and sanity is saved. Bidding wars can cause complicated clauses and can drive up the properties listing price.
3. You can make an offer. Today the sell price list vs. price ration is about 96%. A seller will not be insulted if you ‘make them an offer they can’t refuse’.
4. Take Your Time. In the hot seller’s market that existed everything was rushed. Find a house before other buyers did. Hurry up and make the offer. Today a buyer can take their time. Look at several homes and think about your decision for a few hours.
5. Do Your Due diligence. In this market a buyer is encouraged to obtain a home inspection, termite inspection, and appraisal. In 2005 many buyers waived these contingencies in order gain an advantage with multiple offers.
6. There are plenty of specs. Now that the market has turned, there are several specs sitting on inventory. Builders offer incentives, and are now more flexible.
7. Repair requests are welcomed. After a buyer completes a home inspection, they are allowed to submit a repair request to the seller. In the past a seller might insist the home was sold ‘as is’. Many times, there were back-up buyers waiting for a primary buyer to upset the seller whose home was increasing in value almost daily.
8. Few Investors. It is estimated that one third of all sales in 2005 were to investors. These non-owner occupied buyer caused the market to inflate and affordability to decline. Mortgage fraud became commonplace. It’s a great time to buy without having to compete with hundreds of prospective landlords.
9. Real Financing is available. The ‘wink, wink’ zero down, no doc, adjustable, sub-prime loans are gone. Fixed rates are back. FHA financing, first time homeowner bond programs, special loans for teachers, and police officers are back in business. It’s a great time to buy real estate!
10. Location, Location, Location. Today’s buyers can find homes closer to work. In this market, reasonably priced homes are within biking or walking distance to schools, rapid transit lines, and relatives.
Source: Paul Pastore: Broker Agent News
In spite all the doom and gloom about the current downturn in the housing market, Veros Real Estate Solutions, an industry leader in predictive technology for the real estate industry has predicted that 2 Carolina markets will continue to see an appreciation in real estate values. So, in spite of what many of the ‘Chicken Little’ naysayers might want you to believe, real estate is still very strong in the Carolinas.
Here’s a bit of the Veros’ report:
 Veros Forecasts Nation’s 10 Strongest and Weakest Markets
—Proven Forecasting Technology Indicates Some Markets Still Have Strong Home Price Appreciation—
94th Annual Mortgage Bankers Association Convention and Expo
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Santa Ana, Calif.-based Veros Real Estate Solutions, the industry leader in predictive technology, announced from the 94th Annual Mortgage Bankers Association Convention and Expo the release of its latest quarterly forecast results for Q3 2007 through Q2 2008, revealing the strongest and weakest markets for the next 12 months. Since its initial release in October of 2003, VeroFORECAST continues to be the most accurate forecasting model in the residential real estate market. Based on the company’s proprietary forecasting modeling the results clearly indicate that, although there are areas of significant concern, not all markets are experiencing drastic reductions in real estate values.
According to Veros, the markets that will experience the strongest growth and, in contrast, the most rapid depreciation in home values for Q3 2007 through Q2 2008 are:
Top 5 Strongest Markets Raleigh-Cary, NC (7%) Austin-Round Rock, TX (6%) Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC (6%) Salt Lake City, UT (6%) Albuquerque, NM (5%)
Filed under Buy Your Dream House, Carolina Real Estate, Real Estate Investing, Sell Your Home by
